Parent-Adolescent Processes and Reduced Risk for Delinquency: The Effect of Gender for Mexican American Adolescents

• NCJ Number: 215917
• Journal: Youth & Society Volume: 37 Issue: 4 Dated: June 2006 Pages: 375-392
• Author(s): Sonia Cota-Robles; Wendy Gamble
• Date Published: June 2006
• Length: 18 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Research (Applied/Empirical)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This study investigated whether the parent-adolescent processes of monitoring and parent-adolescent attachment were linked to a reduced risk for delinquency for adolescents of Mexican decent.

Abstract

The study suggests that parent-adolescent processes are relevant for reducing the risk of delinquency for Mexican-American adolescents, but that it is important to control for shared variance among these processes before drawing conclusions. This study also provided evidence that traditional gender role values might play a role in the relationships between parent adolescent processes and delinquency risk. Gender was found to moderate the relationship between mother-adolescent attachment and delinquency. Additional investigation indicated that mother-adolescent attachment was more clearly linked to a reduced risk of delinquency for boys than for girls. Many studies have found that a decreased risk for delinquency is predicted by parent-adolescent processes, including greater parental monitoring. Using a sample of 454 adolescents of Mexican decent from 2 parent families, the study evaluated the relationships between parent-adolescent processes and delinquency risk, taking into account the potential role of conventional gender role values. References